Whenever time is required in this House to get legislation through, it is provided. No Minister or Department has ever been found wanting to facilitate legislation. We get our work done and then some. There has never been any challenge in getting work through.

Members might not like what I have to say but the point is that we meet weekly to discuss the schedule and all business is facilitated. It has never been suggested that we have not been able to do our business. We have always done our business and we will continue to do it. I am sure that will happen long after the Senators and I are gone. We can have our conversation, as we do every week, after the Order of Business. To get back to where I was-----

Senator Paddy Burke spoke this morning. He is now the father of the House. I congratulate him. It is a proud day for Mayo that one of our local Senators has achieved such a length of service. It is a great achievement and something to be very proud of.

We can dream but we may not achieve it.

On a serious note, it is a great achievement and a worthy of accolade.

I acknowledge the points made by Senator Burke on the damage done by both storms, in particular along the western seaboard where there has been considerable damage to businesses and homes. I also acknowledge the points raised by Senator Dolan about front-line workers in the ESB, Irish Water and Electric Ireland working to get the faults fixed. I fully support the call on behalf of clubs such as the tennis club in Castlebar and the Galway Lawn Tennis Club, whose domes have been blown down. The club administrators ar…

We will have that debate later.

I welcome the engagement of the Minister on this particular section. I am speaking to the Government amendment No. 84 and also Fianna Fáil amendments Nos. 76 a , 82 a and 83 a . We have well hashed out the issues relating to this section and I thank the Minister and her Department for the extensive engagement that we had over the past number of months. We had several meetings on this particular section. When we first started out when the Bill came to Seanad, because it had passed through the Dáil, this section had …

Having listened to some of the contributions, I will respond to some of the matters raised. The Minister and Department have requested that debate on the Bill finish tonight. I was happy to facilitate that because we gave it three and a half hours on the previous occasion and provided four hours for it tonight. There has been ample opportunity for Members to have their say and we have had a good airing of one of the key issues. There are lots of other issues to come as well. In terms of the reference that I made to…

Please do not interrupt. I said I got the impression. I can speak to my own impression.

The issue arose many months ago. We have been many months working on this and using every avenue available to us to engage with the Department, the Minister, my party leader and other colleagues. Any suggestion that somehow we have not been working on this is not factually correct. That is borne out in the timelines and our engagement with the councillor representative organisations. As I said, having spoken to the AILG this morning, I know it is very happy to engage with the regulations. The Minister has given a f…

Next Tuesday at 1 p.m.

The Order of Business is No. 1, report of the Committee of Selection, to be taken on conclusion of the Order of Business without debate; No. 2, Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023 - Committee and Remaining Stages, to be taken at 12.45 p.m., and the proceedings thereon shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 90 minutes by the putting of one question from the Chair which shall, in relation to amendments, include only those set down or accepted by Government; No. 3, Policing, Security and Comm…

No, the Bill will adjourn at 6 p.m.

Yes.

We are staying on Committee Stage.

I thank the Cathaoirleach and all those who contributed on the Order of Business. The Deputy Leader, Senator Doherty, spoke about the UN call for a ceasefire, as did many other Senators with very impassioned speeches. There is a view throughout the House that what is happening is abhorrent. There has been acknowledgement that the Government - the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Ministers - have done a good job, as has Ireland, in advocating for peace and a ceasefire. We have been very clear from the outset about where we s…

I appreciate that we are speaking to the section.

I support the amendment put forward by Senator Ruane. It is worth considering, but I understand that it will potentially be considered at a later stage. When going through the section, in particular, section 61(2) states that "Before determining policing priorities, the Authority shall consult with-----" and one of the provisions is "such other persons as the Authority considers appropriate". Can the Minister maybe expand a little bit on who might be included on that, how that might work and how that consultation m…

I concur with the remarks of Senator Mark Daly. There is a good process here in terms of engaging with the establishment of the priorities. I note that section 61 provides that the priorities will be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas. Is there an opportunity for us to engage with those priorities or is that simply just to let us know what they are? That might be an opportunity for Members here to bring forward issues that are happening in their communities and views they may have on what those priorities sh…